Finding God’s Blessings in Life’s Good Times and Bad

Finding God’s Blessings in Life’s Good Times and Bad

I was thinking about blessings today. I was thinking about it in terms of the weather. For while it’s been grey and somewhat dreary this January, every day that I don’t have to drive on snow I count as a gift this time of year, and I celebrate it as one more day closer to summer!

Now I don’t know what blessings you might be experiencing these days. I don’t know where the places are in your life where you are finding joy and hope and new life, but I hope those things are present for you.

And as I was reflecting again today on the many gifts present in my life, I was also recalling how sometimes I have heard folks approach gifts and blessings with some level of hesitation. Instead of giving thanks and enjoying the positive elements of life and receiving them as a gift, there is this apprehension that, as some put it, “they are waiting for the other shoe to drop.” There is this understanding that if things in our lives get going too well, “look out,” there’s trouble around the corner!

I’m not suggesting that life doesn’t have its troubles of course it does. There are tragic things that come into our lives, there are heartbreaks and griefs that are real and cause us significant pain at times. But friends there is something wrong with a theology that expectstrouble whenever things are going well. There is something wrong with a theology that struggles to receive and bask in blessing because of the dread of what bad thing is coming down the pike. There is something wrong with a theology that lives in fear.

Again, I am not suggesting that life is a bed of roses, that there won’t be days when we have to drive in the snow, but for goodness sake, God is good! God’s blessings are new every morning and even when those troubling days arrive, the blessing of God’s presence is always there. So, give thanks this week with joy, with celebration, with an overflowing heart for all that God has done and is doing, and don’t fear what’s behind the next door.